


It Could've Been Worse

by canufeelthemagictonight



Series: ETNuary [2]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Andrea's trying to be optimistic, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Drabble, ETNuary, Gen, Happy Andrea B Day!, Introspection, One Shot, Thinking, With Mixed Results, massive s1 spoilers ahoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-20 04:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canufeelthemagictonight/pseuds/canufeelthemagictonight
Summary: In hindsight, Andrea supposes that this wasn't the worst way things could've ended up.Post-death Andrea Brooks reflects on her fate and the fates she avoided.An Escape the Night one-shot. Day 2 of ETNuary.
Relationships: Andrea Brooks & Timothy DeLaGhetto
Series: ETNuary [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587721
Comments: 21
Kudos: 17





	It Could've Been Worse

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 is everyone's favorite lightbulb cutie, Andrea Brooks! She's not evil this time. I swear.

In hindsight, Andrea supposes that this wasn't the worst way things could've ended up. In fact, it could've been worse. _Much_ worse.

Her death was quick. Painful, suffocating, terrible, but quick. She didn't have to suffer with lungs full of blood for fifteen minutes, like Shane. Nor did she have to get tortured to death in an electric chair, like Lele, or spend half a night dying of suffocation six feet underground, like Justine. (Poor, poor Justine. What happened wasn't her fault. If only Andrea could've told them that.)

She didn't get stuck in 1920. She'd rather _die_ then get stuck in 1920. She doesn't think that she could stand being trapped in the wrong decade, far away from her family and friends, in a house that's clearly out to kill them all. Death seems infinitely preferable to such a fate.

It wasn't Tim. Her best friend lasted _long_ after she was gone. If it _had_ been him who perished in the bowels of the Ungodly Machine (and it might've been, his name was being tossed around because _obviously Mobsters need to die)_ , she would've probably taken it harder than _he_ took _her_ death. He always was the tougher one. She wishes that toughness could've saved him, but she can't say that she's not proud of him for (almost) everything he did. At least they're together now.

Everything worked out in the end. Joey, Eva, and Oli defeated the evil and got the hell out of there. Andrea has the satisfaction of knowing that her death—indeed, _all_ of their deaths—was not in vain.

But most importantly of all, she got out with her heart intact. She didn't have to suffer any of the emotional trauma that those who died after her had to endure. No tears. No fear. No hurt. No pain. She was in and out, like a passing stranger who didn't like her situation long enough to stay.

That's good, right? She avoided the terrible part. It could've been worse.

_It's always best to leave before it gets bad._

And yet, despite the platitudes that Andrea repeats like broken records in her head, she still remembers her hands against the glass, her voice raised slightly as she begged Justine to hurry up. Sometimes, she chokes on empty air and claws for the life that she lost. There are even times when she has cried.

_This is the afterlife. I'm not supposed to cry in the afterlife._

(But will Brittany be okay without her?)

It could've been worse. She tells herself that every time her emotions sag below their contented surface. She thinks it every time she sees her friends' thousand-yard stares of trauma. She reassures her heart that it's better this way.

Most of the time, it works, and she is happy. But when it doesn't work, it's like the heavens are crashing down.

She can't afford to let the heavens crash.

And so, the phrase repeats again:

_It could've been worse. It could've been worse. It could've been worse. It could've been worse._

How long until she believes her own frantic words?

**Author's Note:**

> Next up: Jc Caylen!


End file.
